In one of the previous prompts we treated this week, I mentioned that the public sector will always be my favorite over the private sector for different reasons, and I also stated that both sectors are important for economic growth, so having both is inevitable.
It's not strange to us anymore that the private sector is profit-driven, and it's one of the reasons why services from the private sector always cost more than whatever the public sector will take from us in exchange for their services. Despite that, we have experienced the privatization of some industries, which was necessary to increase the efficiency of some industries while attracting foreign investors.
Industry privatization is a controversial subject, especially in Nigeria, because there are lots of people who believe that handing over some industries to private bodies hasn't been helpful to Nigeria. Some believe that the government is incapable for making such decisions, but if we look deeply, privatizing some industries did help Nigeria as a country, even though we are being extorted to an extent.
As much as we think the government isn't doing the right thing, I strongly believe there wouldn't be this growth Nigeria has experienced over the years. Truly, we have the resources, we have skilled people in different fields who can make these industries work, but sadly, corruption has eaten into us so deeply that we worry only about our purses instead of doing what's expected of us in our respective fields.
Let's take the Nigerian telecommunication industry as an example. The government had it under control, and that was when we had the NITEL. It was operational until the early 2000s, and there was a claim that the industry was even in debt at the time of its closure.
I remember how the whole street used to be flooded with NITEL cables in those years, it's a horrible sight for those who remember. It's been about 20 years now, and I can confidently say that a lot has changed in the industry.
Does that mean that the telecommunication industry wasn't making money at all? The answer is no. The government made money, but the people in charge weren't helping matters as they mismanaged and looted funds from different angles. After the industry shutdown, it was privatized, and players like MTN, Glo, and others came into the system.
Nigerians pay a lot of money today to these private bodies, and we can't blame these people for asking too much because they have to pay taxes and even tip people up there. Somehow, they have to make this money back so they can stay in business, and if we trace down why the government isn't saying anything about the high-cost Nigerians are paying to these network providers, it still beats down to the corruption that didn't allow NITEL to survive.
The Power Holding Company of Nigeria also has to go through privatization, and I would say they are the reason why we enjoy electricity to an extent today in some parts of the country because, left to the government, the whole country would be in darkness by now. In the last 12 months, we experienced the National grid failure numerous times and it got me wondering what the case of Nigeria electricity would be if it wasn't privatized.
I admit that we pay too much these days, and if you aren't on a prepaid meter, those crazy bills can send you packing back to the village, but what choice do we have? It's either we allow the private bodies to be in charge or we have that industry struggling under the government's watch.
There are other industries like that, and the common issue we have with them is the high cost of their services or products. It's always on the high side, which is inevitable if we are being sincere because the government is also directly and indirectly ripping these bodies apart.
The employment structure of the privatized industry can be really annoying as well because despite how much they charge, they pay their staff stipends, which should be challenged by our government, but nothing is happening because of the remaining corruption in the system.
As a country, we can't have it all well. We have to endure some things while we enjoy the services of these privatized industries, and like I mentioned earlier, we have just one choice, which is to adapt because the government cannot provide everything properly for us. I will just urge the government to ensure there is transparency in the industries, and Nigerians should be taken into consideration because we are the ones taking the hit directly from these private bodies in charge of the industries.
Without us, they can't succeed in the country, and just because we can't do without them doesn't mean we have to be traumatized by the cost of their services.
All Image Are Mine.
Thanks for the curation and cheers to a beautiful week.
Indeed no country can have it all but a resource like water should not be privatized.
Water can't be privatised in a country without a proper construction plan, it's only possible abroad because most people buy their houses. Here we build and you can have a borehole if you want so privatizing water won't work in a country like Nigeria.
We really can't have it all... Happy Sunday.
Happy Sunday to you too
True, people see Nigeria as stagnated, but when you look at it from another perspective, though our growth is slow due to corruption and all, we are actually moving. I totally agree with you, a country must not have it all
Nigeria is not stagnant and our growth is just slow because of the corruption that has eaten badly into our system. We can only hope that things get better gradually.
Where corruption is the main cause of the poor economy of the country and public services owned by the government, if only natural resources and products were managed well by the state, perhaps this would be the glory of a country.
Mismanagement of resources is basically one of our problems and that's why a lot of third world countries have been extorted terribly. If the corruption can be dealt with, there will be lots of changes in the country.